1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the reproduction of an activity, such as a sporting contest, for a viewer at a remote location and more particularly relates to the reproduction at the remote location, in synchronism with audio and video reproductions of the activity, of those stimuli, or simulations of those stimuli, that are generated by events at the live activity and are perceived by the human tactile sense.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many entertainment and educational activities that are of interest to viewers who are not in attendance at the activities. Some of the more popular activities of public interest include sporting contests, such as football games and automobile racing, and technological events, such as the launching of a space vehicle. Historically, before the invention of radio and the phonograph, an individual could view or participate in an activity only by personally attending the activity. Radio and the phonograph allowed reproduction of sound so that listeners could perceive, by their sense of hearing at a remote location, the audio generated by the activity. The invention of still photography and later moving pictures allowed reproduction of images of events occurring at an activity so that viewers could perceive, at a remote location, visual images generated by the event. The inventions of sound moving pictures and of television allowed reproduction of moving visible images generated by activities, i.e. the video, in synchronism with the audio that was also generated by events at the activities. Although the video and audio reproductions that are presented at a remote location are not identical to the video and audio generated at the activities, they are approximations that are useful and enjoyable for remote viewers.
Nonetheless, attendance at an activity has continued to provide the most complete and accurate stimuli to the human senses for perception by a viewer. Stimuli that have been omitted from remote reproductions of activities are the haptic stimuli that can be perceived by the human tactile sense. The term haptic means of, based upon, proceeding from or relating to the sensation of touch; tactile. For example, an automobile and its engine operating at an auto race not only generate visual and audible stimuli, but also generate haptic stimuli. Haptic stimuli are those stimuli that are perceived by the human tactile sense. Haptic events are events at activities that generate haptic stimuli in the form of physical motion, particularly vibration. A viewer sitting in the grandstands of such an activity not only sees and hears the automobiles, but often their bodies and the grandstand itself is vibrated by relatively low frequency vibrations which the viewer perceives by the viewer's tactile sense. Although not ordinarily perceived by a viewer in attendance at the activity, the automobile engine also causes vibration of the vehicle which the driver perceives by the driver's tactile sense. As another example, at a football game or a boxing match, haptic events, such as collisions between human bodies and protective equipment, not only generate audio, perceived by a person's ears using the sense of hearing, and generate video, perceived by a person's eyes using the sense of sight, but also generate vibration, that is perceived by at least the participant, even if not perceived by the tactile sense of a viewer. Those vibrations that can be perceived by the human tactile sense are haptic vibrations.
It is a purpose and feature of the invention to enhance the realistic reproduction of an activity for the enhancement of a remote viewer's experience by additionally reproducing, at a remote location and in synchronism with the audio and video, a representation of the haptic vibrations generated by the event and apply them to the body of a remote viewer. These reproduced haptic vibrations can include not only haptic events that can be felt by spectators who are in attendance at an event but not in physical contact with it, but also haptic events that such spectators would not feel but that a participant(s) in the activity would feel.
Another purpose and feature of the invention is to apply to a remote viewer haptic vibrations that are simulations of the haptic stimuli generated by haptic events and apply them in synchronism with video and audio reproductions of the events.
Still another purpose and feature of the invention is to enhance and/or augment sensed haptic stimuli generated by haptic events and apply reproductions of the enhanced stimuli to remote viewers in synchronism with video and audio reproductions of the events.